9/4/14

My daily routine | Fall 2014

The other day I was bouncing around online, and I landed on a blog post of somebody's daily routine. This blogger had outlined her typical day, down to the minute practically, and I found it strangely fascinating. (I wish I could find it again to link you to it, but alas, it slipped through my fingers.)

I was inspired to type up my own typical daily routine, and post it here. After all, my theme for September is routines.

Before I wrote mine up, I went looking to see if I could find other examples. This one was my favorite, and I considered just adopting it and calling it a day:

Isn't that great? I love the simplicity. But then I decided I needed a little more detail. Be Amazing might work for some people, -- I wish I was one of those types -- but the fact is I need a little more guidance to get through my days.

I also found this quote from Mike Murdock, which I LOVE.

What will be revealed about my future when I reveal my daily routine? What a fascinating question!

Without further ado, here is my daily routine:

My Daily Routine

4:45 Answer the cat’s meows and get up to give him his daily medicine (the only time I can catch him) and let him out. Back to bed.

5:45 Get up.

6:00 − 7:00 Yoga class at the local studio.

7:15 − 7:40 Get kids breakfast, make lunches, empty the dishwasher and clean up any kitchen messes left over from yesterday, feed the dog & cats, give insulin shot to my other cat (diabetic), make sure kids are brushing teeth, getting sunscreen, finding their socks, etc. This is always a hectic 25 minutes!

7:40 Get the kids out the door and down the block. The school bus comes to our corner at 7:45.

7:50 − 8:30 Coffee, breakfast, read email, blogs, and scan the paper. This is one of my favorite times of the day.

8:30 to 10:00 Meet up with a friend for a walk, or go for a run. Sometimes the walk/run is displaced by a meeting of one kind or another (ex: the monthly PTO board meeting.)

10:00 − 12:00 Work on my novel.

12:00 − 1:00 Lunch, usually at the computer or with my kindle. Squeeze in a little walk with the dog.

3:16 Bus drops the kids off if they aren’t staying at school for an after school activity.

3:17 − 6:30 Kids activities, snacks, homework, cooking dinner. Lots of drop offs and pickups different places every day. This is my busiest time of the day and where lots of parenting is going on.

6:30 Dinner

7:00 − 8:00 More homework helping if it’s not done, kitchen cleanup, family time, etc.

8:00-9:00 Bedtime routines. This is the hour I am targeting in my quest to establish a better routine for bedtime that leaves the us all feeling satisfied and calm and ready to settle down. (This can be a tough hour in my house.)

9:00 If all goes well from 8-9, my goal is to be able to retire to my quiet place by 9pm. I generally read in bed until I fall asleep, by 10pm ideally.

This schedule, all typed up in black and white, look very official and firm, but of course it's more flexible in real life. Sometimes I go to the 8:15 yoga instead of the 6am. Sometimes I do errands first and then write, or I procrastinate my novel and write blog posts instead. Thursdays the kids get out early, so everything shifts. You know how it goes, things change a bit day to day. But this schedule is roughly what happens on a typical day.

If Mike Murdock is right, then this routine should design a future me that is stronger and healthier (due to the 5x per week yoga and all that walking/running), and a future me that has completed her first novel. I like the sound of that future self! Wish me luck in sticking to this routine!

What future self do you want to see, and how can you use your daily routine to get you there?

I hope this peek into my days was interesting and helpful. I'd love to hear about your routines too!